Need Pampering? Four Spots That Do The Works

More salons with savvy are expanding services to offer patrons half- and full-day spa treatments crammed with more pampering than you`ve had since Mom liked you best. (Speaking of Mom on this Mother`s Day, when was the last time she received a good pampering?)

Whether your idea of luxury is low end, say a lunchtime devoid of little companions who spit mashed bananas, or high end, like ``Ho-hum, caviar again,`` several salons have treatments that will make you (men and women)

feel as nature intended: marvelous.

Following are four hair salons/beauty spas where you can get the full treatment from makeup to muscles:

Owners Jan Kubis and Irene Bridges are to beauty treatments what Sigfried and Roy are to big cats. With a couple decades experience to their credit, early this year they opened a spa adjacent to their hair salon that`s a sort of friendly extravaganza of options. A clothing boutique features one-of-a-kind items. Experts on accessorizing or color analysis occasionally pop in for seminars. Wednesday is men`s night. Gift baskets can be filled with customized beauty products to be purchased alone or to accompany a spa gift certificate.

Some specialities here include the facelift facial that Kubis calls ``a quick-fix toner-upper that lasts about three days,`` a pack for hands and feet with exotic stuff in it like bee pollen which leaves appendages soft as a baby`s you-know, and hair extension, incorporating, via wax, tiny hair strands into your own to lengthen or add fullness.

Owner Patricia Ranallo has an enthusiasm for all-over health and beauty regimes that most people reserve for events like birth, the end of war, true love. She discusses the detoxification from within via algae extracts whose minerals and nutrients duplicate blood plasma the way other people discuss what`s on TV tonight. In this newly opened salon/spa, the focus is on natural products and preventive beauty treatments (six-month skin-care packages, acne facials, dehydrated skin care). Future plans include a separate area for men. Spa Package I ($210) includes round trip limousine service, manicure, pedicure, facial, body pack (algae), body therapy, haircut/style, makeup/

makeover, lunch.

Spa Package II ($256) adds wine to lunch and color or perm to hair treatment. Spa Package III ($300) also includes a full set of sculptured nails.

Owner Lucrezia O`Brien, after 30 years in the business, speaks with some authority when she says, ``Everyone wants to stay young.`` She and a staff of 35 have combined efforts for more than a decade not only to pamper but also teach patrons techniques they can use at home. An on-site training center keeps staff sharp.

``Everybody needs to be pampered, but at the hectic pace most people operate, luxury gets lost,`` said Dianne Harms, the image consultant who designed the Day of Beauty program at Caryl Richard. The salon gives top billing to its skin care products from France and its experienced staff, trained in European, Asian and nouveau disciplines.